In 2025, verified physical assaults and kidnappings targeting crypto holders reached 72, a 75% year-over-year jump. Europe made up more than 40% of cases, while kidnappings rose 66% and physical assaults surged 250%. Reported financial losses exceeded $40.9 million.

On Monday, February 2, BlackRock trimmed its exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum by more than $600 million, offloading 6,306 BTC worth about $496.41 million and 58,327 ETH valued at roughly $138.23 million. These moves made the firm responsible for 78% of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF outflows and nearly 54% of Ethereum redemptions that day, while both BTC and ETH prices remained under pressure in early February.

On Monday, February 2, Bitcoin traded below $77,000 amid macro headwinds, institutional outflows, and liquidations. Finbold's AI tool, combining ChatGPT, Gemini 2.5 Flash, and Claude Sonnet 4, projects $76,667 for February 28, 2026, versus a current $76,784. Individual model calls range from $72,500 to $82,500, highlighting near-term uncertainty.

Macro analyst Michaël van de Poppe says gold’s momentum has driven its RSI above 91, a threshold last seen in December 1979 and higher than August 2020. He notes that after the 2020 spike, gold consolidated while Bitcoin advanced about 5–6x, prompting debate over whether a similar setup could unfold.

Ethereum has recently extended weekly losses to nearly 10%, with ETH trading around $2,905 amid a bearish technical backdrop. Under a base-case scenario of no major shocks and steady network adoption, ChatGPT estimates the price could reach about $3,400 by February 1, 2026, implying roughly 17% potential upside. The AI model also outlines downside risk toward $2,400 and an upside path above $4,000, depending on whether key support and resistance levels hold.

Ripple will unlock 1,000,000,000 XRP from escrow on February 1, 2026, under its monthly schedule. In January, 70% of the release—700,000,000 XRP—was re-escrowed, limiting circulating supply, while XRP moved from around $1.84 to $1.91 on January 1–2 amid broader catalysts, including Japan's 2026 tax reforms and an XRP ETF.

According to projections attributed to ChatGPT, Bitcoin could trade between $95,000 and $120,000 on February 1, 2026, implying notable upside from the current level near $89,000. The model also outlines a downside scenario toward $75,000–$90,000 and a less likely bullish path as high as $150,000, while flagging near-term uncertainty over whether BTC can hold above $90,000 after a weekly drop of more than 6%.

On Thursday, January 22, XRP's derivatives segment saw a sharp rise in options activity, with daily volume leaping 213% to $9.53 million and open interest edging up to $73.39 million. Over the same period, XRP futures volume reached $6.19 billion, while the spot price traded near $1.92 after briefly rallying 4% toward resistance around $1.97 and $2. Positioning remained tilted long on major platforms, but overall long-short ratios stayed close to neutral, leaving traders watching whether volatility leads to a breakout or continued consolidation.

Ripple’s U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD has been officially listed on Binance, where it will initially trade on Ethereum with XRP Ledger support to follow. Binance is launching XRP/RLUSD and RLUSD/USDT pairs and plans to add RLUSD to its Earn products, while RLUSD’s market cap has recently moved above $1.3 billion amid growing institutional DeFi use.